Jack for hand-sewn shoes



Nov. 3, 1970 R. D. HUSSEY 3,537,119

JACK FOR HAND-SEWN SHOES Filed Aug. 19, 1969 2 sheets-sheet 1 FIG! i 24 INVENTOR I ROBERT D. HUSSEY U.S. Cl. 12-123 United States Patent 01 :"fice 3,537,119 Patented Nov. 3, 1970 Int. Cl. A43d 3/00 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for holding the vamp and plug of a moccasin type shoe in any desired position to facilitate the hand-sewing of the plug to the vamp.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to the manufacture of shoes of various kinds and relates particularly to moccasin type shoes, slippers or other footwear having portions sewn together by hand.

Description of the prior art In the past shoes of various types have been manufactured to a large extent by machines which have stamped the various parts from leather, cloth, man-made material or other material and subsequently a machine has been used to sew the various parts together in the formation of a shoe. In most cases the machine has produced a better longer lasting product than the hand-sewn shoes which the machine-made shoes replaced and has been a great deal faster so that mass production has kept shoes within a reasonable price range. However, certain phases of shoe manufacture have not been conducive to machine sewing and therefore these phases have continued to involve the human element and have included hand-stitching or sewing by skilled craftsmen. One of these phases has been in the manufacture of moccasin type shoes, particularly with regard to connecting the plug or upper portion of the shoe front to the vamp or side portion of the front of the shoe. Normally when a skilled craftsman is sewing the plug to the vamp, both the plug and the vamp are prepunched after which they are connected together by clips or temporary tacks which hold the shoe in position for the sewing operation. During the sewing operation the various parts have been assembled on a last which has required considerable time and skill in aligning the quarter, vamp and plug on the last. Although some adjustable lasts have been provided, normally a different last has been used for each size of shoe and accordingly has required a substantial inventory of relatively expensive lasts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an adjustable jack which replaces the last and which can be mounted on a cobblers bench and adjusted to any desired position for ready access to the cobbler or shoemaker. The jack includes a clamp portion having jaws adapted to receive the plug and to hold such plug in fixed position, a spring-loaded holding portion for shaping the forepart of the shoe as the plug is being sewn t the vamp, and a pair of clips which releasably engage the vamp at the quarters and hold the vamp in fixed position relative to the plug. When the parts are in assembled relation on the jack, a skilled craftsman can hand-sew the parts together quickly and easily and due to the accessibility and adjnstability of the jack the craftsman can perform the sewing in any desired position.

It is an object of the invention to provide an adjustable jack for hand-sewn shoes in which the jack will hold the various parts in fixed position relative to each other so that they can be connected together by hand-stitching and such jack will shape the forepart of the shoe as such parts are being stitched together.

Another object of the invention is to provide a jack for hand-sewing portions of shoes together in which the jack is adjustable to accommodate cobblers or craftsmen of different sizes, as well as to permit the parts to be sewn together while the cobbler is either standing or sitting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the jack of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation thereof on a reduced scale.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG, 6 is a perspective illustrating the application of the plug to the jack.

FIG. 7 is a perspective illustrating the application of the vamp to the jack.

FIG. 8 is a perspective illustrating the plug and vamp in position prior to sewing.

FIG. 9 is a perspective illustrating the hand-sewing of the plug to the vamp.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference, to the drawings, a workbench or base 10 is provided on which a mounting member 11 is connected in any desired manner, as by fasteners 12. The mounting member 11 includes a pair of generally parallel outwardly extending ears or lugs 13 connected by a bolt and nut 14. An arm 15 is mounted at one end on the bolt 14 and adapted to clampingly engage the ears or lugs 13 when the nut is tightened so that the arm can be adjusted to any desired position and then fixed in such position.

The opposite end of the arm includes an enlargement 16 connected by a bolt and nut 17 to a head 18 having spaced lugs 19 on opposite sides of the enlargement 16 and adapted to clampingly engage such enlargement when the bolt and nut 17 are tightened but permitting adjustability therebetween when the nut is loosened. The bolt 17 is disposed substantially at right angles to the bolt 14 to allow adjustability along different planes. A threaded stud 20 extends upwardly from the head 18 and such stud adjustably receives one end of an offset bracket 21 adapted to be held in fixed adjusted position by jam nuts 22.

The upper portion of the offset bracket 21 is connected to the lower arm 23 of a clamp 24 in any desired manner, as by fasteners 25 adjustably mounted within a slot 26. At the opposite end of the lower arm 23, a lower jaw 27 is mounted and such lower jaw includes upper and lower portions 28 and 29 respectively. The upper portion 28 is connected to the lower arm 23 in any desired manner, as by screws or other fasteners 30, and the lower portion 29 is adjustably connected to the upper portion 28 by a screw 31. In order to maintain the upper and lower portions 28 and 29 substantially in alignment, as well as to apply a tension to the lower portion 29, a pair of dowels or pins 32 are fixed to the lower portion 29 and extend upwardly through recesses 33 in the lower portion 29 and into recesses 34 in the upper portion 28.

The recesses 33 and 34 are generally in alignment with each other and are adapted to receive compression springs 35 disposed about the pins 32 and normally urging the lower portion 29 away from the upper portion 28. If desired the upper surface of the lower portion 29 can be covered by a layer of resilient material such as sponge rubber 36 or the like for a purpose which will be described later. The'upper and lower portions 28 and 29 are adjustable relative to each other, by means of the screw 31.

Intermediate its ends the lower arm 23 has an upstanding lug 37 connected by a pivot 38 to a pair of spaced ears 39 mounted on the lower surface of an upper arm 40. The upper arm 40 is generally parallel with the lower arm 23 throughout most of its length. However, the forward portion 41 is offset downwardly and is adapted to receive an upper'jaw 42. The upper jaw is connected to the offset portion 41 in any desired manner, as by screws 43 or the like, substantially in alignment with and generally parallel to the lower jaw 27. Preferably the lower surface of the upper jaw is covered by a resilient material 44 such as leather, sponge rubber or the like. An opening 45 extends through the upper jaw 42, the resilient material 44 and the sponge rubber 36 of the lower jaw substantially in alignment with the screw 31 to provide access to the head of the screw so that the upper and lower portions 28 and 29 of the lower jaw 27 can be adjusted toward and from each other. e

In order to urge the upper jaw 42 toward the lower jaw 27, a post 46 is secured at one end to the lower arm 23on the side of the pivot 38 remote from the jaws 27 and 42. The upper end of the post 46 is received within a slot 47 in the upper arm 40 and a relatively heavy duty spring 48 is located about the post 46 intermediate the arms. The spring 48 urges the lower arm 23 and the upper arm 40 away from each other on one side of the pivot38 and thereby urges the jaws 27 and 42 toward each other on the other side of such pivot.

A pair of spring clips 50 are mounted on opposite sides of the upper arm 40 adjacent to the pivot 38. Each of the clips includes inner and outer jaws 51 and 52, respectively, connected by a spring member 53 and a pivot 54 so that such jaws are movable relative to each other. The spring member 53 normally urges the jaws 51 and 52 towardeach other. Each of the inner jaws 51 has an upwardly extending portion 55overlying the upper arm 40 and connected thereto in any desired manner, as by screws or other fasteners 56. Each of the outer jaws 52 is provided with an upwardlyextending operating portion 57 adapted to be squeezed toward the upwardlyextending portion 55 to open the jaws. If desired, the operating portions 57 may be connected by' a flexible member 58 such asplastic tubing or the like so that the-loopof thread used in'the sewing of the shoe cannot become entangled with the operating portions 57. Also the jaws 51 and 52 may be covered with a relatively soft friction material so that they will not damage material held therebetween.

In the operation of the device a plug 60 of leather, cloth or other material is cut to a desired size and preferably a series of openings 61 are prepunched along the edges of three sides of the plug. Also a vamp 62 of leather, cloth or other flexible material iscut to size and is provided with a series of openings 63 spaced about the front portion of the vamp. Preferably the openings 63 of the vamp are spaced farther apart than the openings 61 of the plug so that when the plug and vamp are sewed together the upper portion of the vamp will be gathered and will provide a rippleeifect. After the plug and vamp have been cut and punched, the ends of the arms 23 and 40 remote from the jaws 27 and 42 are squeezed together against the tension of the spring 48 to open the jaws. The plug 60 is placed between the upper and lower jaws after which the opposite ends of the lower and upper arms are released to permit the jaws to clamingly engage the plug and to hold the plug in fixed position. Thereafter the spring clips 50 are opened by squeezing the operating portions 57 and the upper portions of the vamp are inserted between the jaws 51 and 52 so that when such jaws are released they will hold the vamp in fixed position relative to the plug 60. In positioning the vamp it is necessary only to align the first openings 63 of the vamp with the first openings 61 of the plug.

When relatively small moccasins are being formed, the upper and lower portions 28 and 29 of the lower jaw 27 are moved toward each other, as illustrated in full lines in FIG. 4, by operation of the screw 31. When relatively large moccasins are being formed, the upper and lower portions 28 and 29 of the lower jaw 27 are moved away from each other, as illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 4. When the plug and vamp are in position, the cobbler or shoemaker will take a needle and thread 64 and sew the plug and vamp together, as illustrated in FIG; 9. During the sewing operation the vamp 62 will be formed around the upper and lower portions 28 and 29 of the lower jaw in such a manner that the lower jaw will shape the front of the moccasin. After the plug and vamp have been sewn together, the spring clips 50 are released from the vamp and the jaws 27 and 42 are opened to permit removal of the plug and the moccasin from the jack.

I claim:

1. A jack for hand-sewn shoes comprising a base, an arm adjustably mounted on said base, bracket means adjustably connected at one end to said arm, a lower clamp arm carried by said bracket means and having a lower jaw connected to one end of said'lower arm, an upper arm swingably connected to said lower arm and generally parallel therewith, said upper arm having an upper jaw at one end in a position to cooperate with said lower jaw, means for urging said jaws toward each other for clampingly engaging a portion of the shoe to be sewed, and clamp means carried by one of said upper and lower arms and adapted to engagea second portion of the shoe to be sewed, whereby said jack will clampingly support at least two portions of a shoe to be sewed.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said lower jaw includes upper and lower portions, and means for adjusting said upper and lower portions relative to each other.

3. A jack for holding articles in fixed position relative to each other comprising generally parallel upper and lower arms, upper and lower jaws carried by said arms, means swingably connectingsaid upper and lower arms together, means for urging said upper and lower arms toward each other to clampingly engage an article between said jaws, a pair of clamp means carried by said arms, one of said clamp means being mounted on each side of said arms, said clamp means adapted to clampingly engage another article in fixed relation to the article carried by said jaws.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said lower jaw includes upper and lower portions, means for moving said upper, and lower portions toward and from each other, and spring means normally urging said upper and lower portions away from each other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,092,094 9/ 1937 Silvester 12-11 1 3,259,931 7/1966 Levenson 12-142 3,378,867 4/1968 Grant et a1. 12142 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

